


You're Missing Out

by SummerStormFlower



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Babies, Babysitting, Gen, Scrooge babysits, baby ducks, it's a little chaotic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22080265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SummerStormFlower/pseuds/SummerStormFlower
Summary: The boys don't know this, but Donald has asked Uncle Scrooge to babysit before. A long time ago...
Relationships: Dewey Duck & Donald Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck, Dewey Duck & Huey Duck & Louie Duck & Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck & Scrooge McDuck
Comments: 10
Kudos: 152





	You're Missing Out

"Get off my lawn, you deadbeat!"

Donald sighed. He'd been expecting that.

He turned around, and there was the 'Great' Scrooge McDuck, looking as dapper as ever in his overcoat and top hat. Or, Uncle Scrooge, as Donald referred to him.

"It's me, Uncle Scrooge," Donald said.

"I know that," Scrooge replied, a scowl on his face. "Get off my lawn, you deadbeat."

Donald sighed again, unamused. Maybe he should have gone to Gladstone after all. 

"What do you want?" Scrooge asked, scowl softening a bit.

Well, too late now, Donald thought. "I need your help," he said.

Scrooge seemed surprised. Then he raised a brow. "With what?"

"I need you to look after these three." Donald pulled back the sun shade cover on the stroller, revealing three baby ducklings buckled in. Huey, in red, on the right, was sucking on a soother and had a stuffed giraffe under his arm. Dewey, in blue, on the left, was leaning out as far as he could, eyes wandering everywhere. And Louie, in green, in the middle, was fast asleep.

Scrooge didn't just seem surprised now; he looked shocked.

Donald knelt down, sitting Dewey up, although he just slouched and leaned over the side again. "These are your grandnephews," Donald said, watching Scrooge's reaction. This was his first time seeing them, as he hadn't been at the hospital to watch them hatch. (Donald wished he had been).

Scrooge stared at the babies in wonder for nearly a minute. Then he gave himself a shake and cleared his throat, scowling at Donald again. "So, what? You want me to babysit?" he asked, incredulous.

Donald stood up. "Yes," he answered seriously.

Scrooge balked. "You're asking me, of all people, to watch baby triplets?!"

"Yes."

"You really think I'm babysitter material?"

"No," Donald sighed, rubbing his forehead where he felt a headache starting to grow, "But you're my only option."

Scrooge was silent.

Donald swallowed a lump in his throat that was probably his pride. "Please."

Scrooge looked at him, and Donald hoped that wasn't pity in his eyes. He knew he looked horrible. He had all week, and everyone he knew had been giving him pitiful stares. It drove Donald insane.

Finally, Scrooge said, "Alright."

Donald sighed, this time with relief, and gave Scrooge the stroller. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Scrooge said gruffly, looking down at the babies uncertainly.

"I'll be back to pick them up sometime in the evening," Donald said, walking towards his car on the driveway. 

"Uh..." Scrooge stammered awkwardly, "See you then?"

Donald nodded back at him. "See you then." With one last look at his boys, Donald got in his old car and drove away.

Scrooge watched him until he was out of sight, then huffed. He looked down at the triplets.

"Oh boy."

The red one's eyes were huge with tears, the blue one was whining, and the green one looked to be waking up, and all three of them were sure to start bawling.

Scrooge looked around frantically before his eyes landed on the doors to his mansion. "Let's get you inside."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Getting Dewey to stop crying was easy enough. All he'd wanted was out of the stroller, and as soon as he was, he was happy. Getting Huey to stop crying was harder. Scrooge tried rocking him, but that didn't work. So Scrooge sat down and bounced him on his lap. That worked. Huey's crying soon turned into laughing, so Scrooge kept bouncing him on his lap until he wanted down. 

Louie hadn't stopped crying once in the past two hours. Scrooge had tried everything. Nothing had worked. Not rocking, not talking, not playing, not feeding, not changing, not napping. Nothing.

It didn't help that Scrooge had to keep an eye on two other babies. Dewey crawled everywhere and on everything. Scrooge had caught him before he'd fallen off the couch twice, pried him off the coffee table thrice, shooed him away from the plants more than four times, and Scrooge didn't know how many times he'd nearly lost Dewey. He closed as many doors as possible, duct taped the cupboards shut in the kitchen, and kept Dewey away from the dinning table. 

Huey wasn't as bad. He crawled around, but never went too far, seeming a tad scared of such a big house and not wanting to be away from his brothers. He'd start crying if he thought he was alone, and whenever Dewey heard him, he'd race to find him, forcing Scrooge to run after him with Louie screaming on his hip. Huey would stop as soon as he saw Dewey coming, and then he'd be okay.

Scrooge's eyes were constantly darting up and down, so he wouldn't trip over Dewey or Huey, while also trying not to bump into anything.

Huey tried to follow Dewey, but Dewey was a fast bugger, and often left Huey behind, until he started crying. This went on and on for hours. Scrooge's legs were sore from chasing after them, and so was his back from carrying Louie around. 

And Louie hadn't stopped crying once.

"Curse me kilts, child!" Scrooge blurted, switching Louie onto his other hip and bouncing him. "Why won't you stop blubbering?!"

Louie only cried harder.

Scrooge groaned.

"You have no idea what you're doing," said a woman's voice.

Scrooge turned and scowled at Ms. Beakley in the doorway. "Of course I don't!" he shouted over Louie's crying, as well as Huey's sobbing when Dewey crawled too far away from him. For the fiftieth time. "I haven't taken care of babies in over twenty years! And I was a lot younger back then!"

Ms. Beakley rolled her eyes. "Allow me," she said, holding out her arms.

Scrooge handed Louie over immediately, rubbing his aching back once the duckling was out of his arms. 

"Hush now, little one. There, there," Ms. Beakley said softly, rocking Louie back and forth. 

Slowly, Louie's cries began to quiet, as Ms. Beakley continued to shush and rock him. Then suddenly, he stopped crying.

Scrooge's beak fell open. "What the... How'd you do that?"

Ms. Beakley scoffed. "You may recall, Mr. McDuck, that I was once a mother."

Scrooge frowned. "Once?"

Ms. Beakley gazed down at Louie with a far away look on her face. "My daughter disowned me a long time ago." Louie gurgled and smiled, looking up at Ms. Beakley with fond eyes.

"Ah," Scrooge said awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

Huey crying again broke the silence.

"You!" Scrooge exclaimed, turning around and pointing at Dewey, attempting to climb the coffee table again. "Stay near the red one, will you?!"

Dewey paid him no heed.

"Their names are Huey, Dewey and Louie," Ms. Beakley said, "You know this. Donald called to tell you when they were born."

"I don't know which is which!" Scrooge huffed, "As far as I'm concerned, their names are Bluey, Reddy, and Greeny."

Ms. Beakley sighed. "Whatever. I am going to make lunch. I'll call you when it's ready." She handed Louie back to Scrooge, then left the room.

Louie started screaming the second she was out of his sight, on top of Huey still crying, and at the same time, Dewey fell off the table and started crying too.

"Oh for the love of-!" Scrooge groaned, "Bless me bagpipes, lads."

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Feeding Huey was easy enough. He must've been hungry because he didn't fight when Scrooge fed him, and he was a little messy, but he was the cleanest of the three of them. Ms. Beakley fed Louie with next to no difficulty.

Dewey, on the other hand, refused to eat. He swatted at the spoon and whined loudly.

"Come on, ya wee deadbeat," Scrooge growled, "Eat your lunch!"

Dewey threw his baby food at Scrooge's face.

Huey and Louie started giggling. Even Ms. Beakley smiled.

Scrooge groaned in annoyance. "Blasted child."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Huey ended up falling asleep after lunch. Scrooge put him in the stroller and put a blanket over him. When the lad wasn't crying, he was actually kind of cute.

Scrooge managed to keep Dewey in one place by entertaining him with a game of peek-a-boo. It made Dewey grin for a little while, before he got bored of it. So Scrooge tickled him, which made him squeal with delight, and that kept him occupied for a longer while. It wasn't hard at all to make Dewey smile. As long as someone was paying attention to him, he was happy. 

Louie was the opposite. He stuck around Ms. Beakley while she dusted for the most part. He was content to just look around and suck on his thumb. Scrooge had no complaints. At least he wasn't screaming in his ear anymore.

Eventually, Dewey mellowed out, content to sit on Scrooge's lap and play with his cane. Huey woke up after an hour, so Scrooge let him out of the stroller. He took an interest in Ms. Beakley and followed her around the room, until she picked him up. She carried him for awhile and put him down when he started to get restless. Then he crawled over to Scrooge, climbing up on him beside Dewey, and touching Scrooge's side feathers curiously.

Louie crawled over too and reached for Scrooge's top hat, knocking it off his head. He fiddled with it for a bit and Scrooge let him, until he tried to put it in his mouth. That's when Scrooge offered him his soother. Louie took it and started sucking on it. Then he scooted a little closer to Scrooge and leaned on his side, playing with the buttons on the flap of his coat.

"Don't pick em off, Greeny," Scrooge said.

Louie looked up at him and just smiled.

It made Scrooge's heart do a funny flip.

There were a few more rough patches in the rest of the day, but other than that, things were okay.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Thanks for watching them," Donald said, buckling the sleeping triplets in their car seats.

"No problem," Scrooge said, unable to take his eyes away from the babies' peaceful, little faces. After just one day, those faces had wriggled their way under his cold exterior. Sure, they'd driven him crazy, but at the same time.... they'd kinda grown on him. There was something about the way their smiles and laughs made the sun shine inside his heart. It made him feel alive. Not in the way that adventures did, but somehow, in a way that was even better.

But now that Donald and the boys were leaving, and Scrooge didn't know if he'd ever see them again, that feeling was replaced by something... sad. Empty and hollow.

Donald turned to him. For a moment, they just stood, facing each other. There were so many unspoken words and hurt feelings in the silence. It made Scrooge feel like choking. He could see the bags under Donald’s eyes. (How much pain did he carry inside him? And how much of it was Scrooge's fault?)

"Goodbye Uncle Scrooge," Donald finally said.

Scrooge wanted nothing more at that moment than to drag his nephew into a hug. But he didn't. "Goodbye, Donald."

He watched Donald get in his car. Watched him check behind his seat to make sure each of the boys were buckled in safely. And he watched him drive away.

Scrooge stood under the night sky for a long time.

Eventually, Ms. Beakley came out to check on him. She stood beside him.

"You're missing out," she said.

Scrooge scowled. "No, I'm not." (But on the inside, he knew he was and it broke his heart).

**Author's Note:**

> My first time writing Scrooge. Thanks to those who read! Let me know what you think! :)


End file.
